Normal With You

Chapter 6

Let go of your worries

And be completely clear-hearted,

Like the face in the mirror,

Behold yourself

And see the shameless truth,

Which the mirror reflects...

"Will you sit with me?" Her voice sounded soft from beside him.

He might consider them friends yet neither had spoken apart from sneaked notes since the day of the memorial almost 3 weeks prior.

Riaz looked up at her. He had never sat with anyone during break. He sat by the window, waiting for the break to end and that contented him. It was nice to have a clear head- watching the cars go by seemed to bring him peace though he would never be able to understand why.

"You don't have to talk," she reiterated, feeling awkward at his prolonged silence. "I just don't like being by myself."

"You don't look the type who should be by herself." He said, surprising even himself.

"I'm not. I love the idea of friends. I just haven't found a replacement yet."

"Where do you sit?"

"On the bench outside the science lab."

"Okay." He stood up, allowing her to walk in front of him.

She took only two steps before she turned around. "Thank you." She smiled at him. She had forgotten that she could smile.

But she could and that made her happy.

He nodded his head just once, not knowing how to reply. No one had thanked him for anything before.

They sat in silence.

Neither had realised that it was in this moment that their friendship had truly formed.

They sat in silence, just enjoying the presence of the other as they watched the other students walk past, trapped in their own bubble of conversation.

It was serene, simply listening to the chirps of the birds as the males hurriedly built their nests in the large Palm tree above them, hoping to please their beloved enough to want to start a family with them. They both felt the gentle breeze as it whispered sweet songs into their ears. Songs of peace and contentment which seemed to strum through their souls as they sat quietly next to each other.

Neither knew that this would define their friendship. Their friendship would never be loud or raucous or full of laughs. It would never be adventurous or boisterous or coloured by passionate fights and arguments. But it would be defined by the contentment they felt within each other as they escaped from the emptiness of their hearts and the darkness of their abnormal homes that had become so normal for them that it became the only way to exist.

...

Do you believe in God?

Riaz didn't know why it seemed so easy for them to talk through pieces of the paper yet in her presence he felt no desire to talk. Perhaps it wasn't talking to her that he truly longed for... It was the feeling of serenity he felt in their silence that seemed to call to him.

Did he believe in God?

His father was a Muslim once upon a time. But Riaz was sure that he had ran away from all thoughts of God watching him. No man who believed in God would do what he did. Riaz and his sister had inherited their muslim names from Zaheer but to him it was just a name. He didn't know anything of the religion behind it.